Stephen's 1st Birthday

Surprise, I am 9 lbs!

6 weeks old

3 months old

6 months old

9 months old

1 year old

Stephen turned 1 year old on November 19.  This was a big milestone!  When he was born I remember thinking his first birthday seemed a long way away.  It was a hard year, but it went fast.  I had to dig deep with this last baby.  Having 3 other kids and a baby who did not sleep well made for a year of exhaustion.  He didn't sleep 11 hours at night til almost his 1st birthday.  But, this past year was so worth it.  Stephen was a laid back, charming and quite easy baby, after 3 months old that is.  Everyone loved having him in nursery and he would laugh at anyone.  He has some separation anxiety now, but calms down quickly. Stephen learned to walk on Thanksgiving Day.   He had been practicing, but really took off that day.  Now he tries to run around the house.  He just learned how to crawl up the stairs and has taken a couple tumbles.  I am remembering how fun and exhausting 1 year olds are.  And he is very loud.  Stephen spends his day opening drawers and dumping everything out.  He has also made the switch to tantruming toddler.  If he doesn't get his way he will go limp, throw his head back and throw himself on the floor.  He seems a little young to be doing this already…  He also likes to "wrestle" his siblings.  When they aren't paying attention he will walk up behind them and push them and whack them with toys or his hands.  Right now it is cute because he can't hurt anyone, soon it will not be so cute.  He seems to have a milk intolerance.  Whenever he has dairy he gets fussy and has diarrhea.  So we are avoiding dairy.  He has made the switch to rice milk and drinks 8 oz in the morning and 8 oz before bed.  He has gotten his bottom molars and is working on the top ones.  When he is sick or teething he usually ends up in our bed around 5 am because we don't want him crying for an hour and waking everyone else up.  I know, last kids are so spoiled. He uses a pacifier (which is awesome, none of the other kids did) and he loves his blankie.  He takes a morning and afternoon nap. He is in the 90th percentile for weight and the 80th for height.  He is an adorable little chunk.  I am impressed with his language comprehension.  When we tell him to do something he usually knows what we are talking about.  He has some words; mama, dada, and all done.  He does hand signs for more and he points at what he wants.
For Stephen's birthday we celebrated a couple days early.  My Dad and the Peterson family helped us celebrate.  I did a simple Winnie the Pooh theme.  There were PB&honey sandwiches, tigger tails (cheetos), Rabbit's garden (vegetables and fruit), piglets in a blanket (sausages in crescent rolls) and a Winnie the Pooh birthday cake.  Stephen loved the cake and is now very aware when family members are eating sweets.
We are so thankful for the gift of Stephen and we're looking forward to another fun year!

Fall Fun

First soccer games of the season and it rained

Mommy/daughter date- and she chose Russ' restaurant

This creepy pigeon kept trying to fly into our house

New plantation shutters!

Showing school spirit at the preschool tailgate party

Deb and Stephen

Friends since high school

Enedina's baby shower

Showing her sense of humor

E's baby, Nolbi

Future drummer

Apple orchard

Someone found the apples and helped himself

Grandparent's Day

Good grief the blog is suffering!  The thought of sitting down and remembering things makes me a little stressed so I procrastinate and then have to remember even more things.  Oh well.  As I write this the soccer season is done!  Isaac's team had a couple of good players so they pretty much dominated every game.  Isaac had some goals this year and has a good grasp of the game.  Nate enjoyed coaching Isaac's team.  Caleb's coach had really nice things to say about Caleb.  That he listens well and is a team leader.  Caleb had a couple goals this season and was often playing midfield-lots of running.  I did not get good soccer pictures this year, too busy watching Julia and Stephen.  Next year Julia will play soccer.  I can't imagine the busyness of 3 kids in soccer next fall, I'm just not going to think about it.  Poor Stephen.

We had parent teacher conferences for the boys last week.  I am so proud of them!  They are doing well academically, but what makes me most proud is hearing about their character.  Both teachers said the boys are respectful, get along well with others and desire to learn about the Bible.  Puts a smile on my face.  Grandparent's Day was earlier this month and thankfully both schools were on the same day!  Made it easier on my Mom this year.  Unfortunately, Caleb got sick with the stomach flu and couldn't go to school that day, he was very disappointed to miss Grandparent's Day.  But, Mom braved the germs and came and visited him at home.  Isaac and Julia enjoyed showing Grandma around their rooms and singing songs for the grandparents.  

The stomach flu took down the whole family, except for Nate.  Thankfully it was the 24 hr bug, but man it was slow moving.  Took about 2 weeks for everyone to get it here.

My high school friend, Deb visited in September.  We hadn't seen each other in a couple years, it was so nice of her to come out here!  Deb lives in Baltimore and is an ER Physician Assistant.  God has led us down very different paths since high school, but because of our shared faith we've been able to maintain our friendship.  We laughed alot and had many good conversations. 

My sister just visited last week.  My Dad turned 60 earlier in October and all he wanted was a family get together- no party.  Steph surprised him and flew out too.  We had a really nice evening as a family.  Steph watched the kids for a night so Nate and I could go away.  We hadn't done that in probably 1 1/2 years!  It was so nice of her.  The kids had a great time and she was exhausted at the end.  Nate and I enjoyed being able to sleep thru the night without any kids waking us up.  We thought about going places and seeing things, but ended up just reading books and relaxing- it was a great 24 hours!    We all enjoy Steph's visits and wish the time didn't go so fast.

In September we had a baby shower for Enedina, the refugee girl who lived with us over the summer.  She is with a long term foster family in GR.  It was amazing to see the number of women who had been involved in her life in just the 60 days she lived with us.  Enedina was very appreciative of the shower and everyone had fun that night.  Enedina had her baby earlier this month, a little boy named Nolbi.  He is tiny and adorable. 

Earlier this month we had a new refugee boy move in with us.  His name is Ronal and he is 12 years old from El Salvador.  He is such a sweet, fun kid.  He has gotten along with the kids well and it is fun to hear them practicing their Spanish and English together. 

Stephen is 11 months old and changing so much.  I see less of the baby and more of the toddler in him.  He cruises around furniture and can stand alone.  He is ticklish under his arms and gives big belly laughs.  He charms everyone in nursery.  He can do the sign language for all done and more.  He also says mama and all da (all done).  He likes to yell ALL DA when he wants out of his playpen.  He gets into every cupboard in the kitchen.  He has transitioned to formula and this morning was his last breastfeeding.  That makes me sad and happy.  Bring on the dairy for me! We tried giving him lactose free milk, but he had intestinal issues again.  So he may have a milk intolerance.  I'm trying to figure out what kind of milk to transition him to from the formula.  Stephen is stuck in the rut of waking at 5 am and we are trying to end that, without much success.  It has been a week of listening to him cry until 6 am when we get him up.  My usually happy baby is a little more crabby during the day.  I'm hoping that not getting him up til 6 am the next couple of weeks will break the early riser habit. 

Caleb's 9th Birthday

Big Brother leading the way

May the force be with you

Star Wars birthday cake

Still a Packers fan

The best oldest brother

Well it has only been a month since Caleb's birthday!  For his birthday meal he chose lasagna.  What happened to just asking for pizza?  He is starting to have discriminating tastes!  He wanted a Yoda birthday cake which turned out well.  Nate helped with the light saber on the cake, pretty clever.  Caleb received a Star Wars spaceship from the DeMaster grandparents and a Star Wars action figure from the Jongsma grandparents.  We gave him a light saber (we could not find a blue one like he wanted, apparently they are hard to come by!) and some football cards.  This is the year of Star Wars. 

How to describe our 9 year old?  He is still at the top of the growth chart and is very healthy.  Caleb jumps into a sport and does well.  He enjoyed trying basketball this year, baseball, and doing swimming lessons and soccer again.  His current soccer coach says Caleb is a natural leader on the field and has him playing midfield fairly often- lots of running!  We love watching the enjoyment Caleb has when playing sports.  He has gained so much confidence over the years.  Caleb is a wonderful older brother.  He and Isaac are best friends and get along so well.  Caleb and Julia don't have alot in common, but he includes her when he can and uses patience.  Caleb has fun with Stephen.  He helps entertain him and keeps him out of trouble.  Caleb has always done well with babies.  We are also impressed with how Caleb welcomes foster kids into our home.  He makes an effort to speak Spanish with them, share his toys and include them in activities.  God has given Caleb a compassionate heart.  Caleb is in 3rd grade now and it presents new challenges.  He is being stretched and grown in new ways and we are proud of his efforts.  Nate is teaching Caleb piano lessons.  Caleb often gets frustrated, but he picks it up fairly well.

We are thankful for another year with Caleb and can't wait to see what God has in store for him this year!  Happy Birthday bud!

Labor Day Camping

Squirt Gun Fights

Sand masterpieces

Fun in the raft

Babies on the beach

Over Labor Day weekend we met up with Colleen's family near Sandusky, Ohio.  It was kind of a halfway point for our two families.  We stayed at East Harbor State Park and it was really nice!  Usually campgrounds are full of people partying over holiday weekends, but everyone was very respectful.  We camped for 3 nights.  Both families arrived when it was dark the first night, that made for a slightly stressful set-up.  It didn't help that our pop-up blew a fuse so we didn't have electricity.  But, we got it set up and everyone into bed.  The weather was nice that weekend, no serious rain and comfortable temps.  The cousins played with toy cars, on the playground, played games and just enjoyed being together.  Stephen was crawling so we brought our exersaucer and large pen and put it on a blanket in the grass.  He was fairly content with some toys and liked watching all the activity.  I expected Stephen and I wouldn't sleep well and that was true, but it was manageable.  We took some hikes, went to the beach and ate lots of food.  Maybe next year we will meet up there with more of the DeMaster family along! 

The rest of the summer and SCHOOL

Camping at Yankee Springs

Looking cute at Tunnel Park for college friends get together

12th Anniversary

Neighborhood water fun

9 months old

Dutch Village with the Morrisons

Mmm, corn cob

First Day of School

I can stand up!

Old man faces

The first weekend of August Nate and I went to a Korean adoptee conference.  It's called the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network (KAAN) conference.  It was in Grand Rapids this year so we could just go for the day.  It was interesting to hear from adult Korean adoptees and other Korean adoptive families.  One of the pieces of information I took from it was the idea of narrative burden.  Basically anytime a child is of a different race than the rest of the family they always walk around with the burden of having to explain themselves.  As in, "are you really part of that family, are those really your siblings, where are you really from, etc."  To some extent the adoptive parents also have this burden when the family is in public, but the child carries the brunt of it.  It is always helpful to gain a better understanding of what Julia will face as she grows up so we can listen and be supportive.

Nate took the older kids camping for a couple nights.  They started at a campground near Hastings, but it was a pit.  The mosquitoes almost carried them away and the facilities were not cared for.  Julia got so many mosquito bites half of her face swelled up.  They switched to Yankee Springs campground after the first night.  Stephen and I joined them for one night.  It was difficult, he was awake alot that night.  I then took Julia home with Stephen and I because she wasn't feeling good.  Nate and the boys enjoyed relaxing, riding bikes and swimming in Gun Lake. 

We also had our annual college get together this month at Tunnel Park.  This year it was just us, the Slots, Dave Klamer and kids and Suzanne/Erik.  It was small but still fun.  Nate and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on August 11.  Tim and Jenny watched the kids for us while we went out for dinner.  We went to Piper restaurant on the lake.  It was good food and good conversation without constant interruptions! 

Enadina moved into her long term foster family on the 19th.  It was hard to say goodbye to her.  She was very sad to leave us as we were the first place she felt safe/comfortable in a long time.  She lives about 30 minutes away so hopefully we can stay in touch. 

Soccer practices started for Isaac and Caleb.  Caleb has it twice a week and Isaac once a week, yep 3 nights a week of having to eat supper early and drive kids around.  Nate is coaching Isaac's team which they both enjoy.  School started on the 26th!  Caleb is in 3rd grade, Isaac kindergarten (full day, 5 days/week), and Julia preschool 3 afternoons/week.  My hope is that Stephen will take a good afternoon nap and I will have 3 afternoons a week to hear my own thoughts.  Caleb is in a new school building for 3rd-6th graders.  On the first day of school his teacher told the class that the 6th graders may call them "terd-graders."  I thought Caleb would find that funny because he likes bathroom humor, but apparently he did not.  He was very concerned that 6th graders would be picking on him.  However, that has not happened and he's had a smooth transition.  I was teary the night before Isaac started school.  My little boy who liked to cuddle is growing up.  He was ready to attend school all day and has adjusted well.  Julia has only had one day of preschool, but I think she'll have another great year.  After meeting my kids' teachers I came away completely impressed again.  I am so thankful our kids can attend a great school and have such passionate, God loving teachers.  It truly is a gift that not every child in the world gets. 

Stephen gave me a scare this month.  I was carrying him in one arm and took a bowl of oatmeal out of the microwave with my other hand.  He swiped his hand through the oatmeal and burned his finger, bad.  He was screaming for about an hour and it blistered right away.  I called the doctor and did what they recommended.  Thankfully after he took a nap it didn't bother him anymore.  However it took me awhile to not feel like a bad mom after that!  Not to be outdone, Isaac also gave me a scare that week.  We went to Dutch Village with some friends.  Isaac was waiting on a platform for a turn on the zipline.  A kid on the ground flung the zipline up and the metal harness hit Isaac on the top of his head.  The kid ran and gave Isaac a hug and then Isaac started walking to me holding his head.  Blood was pouring everywhere, in his eyes, mouth, etc.  I have never seen that much blood before.  Thankfully I remembered hearing that head wounds bleed alot so I knew not to freak out.  The wound stopped bleeding fairly quickly and I called the doctor to make sure he didn't need to be seen.  (Yes, that was 2 times in one week our doctor had reports from my family, CPS will show up at my door, ha!)  The cut was under his hair and has healed up.  However, Isaac would like to actually see Dutch Village now. 

Stephen is 9 months old now.  He crawls everywhere and puts everything in his mouth. Which should be motivation to keep my floors clean, but that doesn't always happen!  He has also learned to pull himself up which is cute unless it is in his crib.  He can stand up, but doesn't know how to get done so he stands there screaming when he should be sleeping.  He is also teething like crazy, two top teeth and two more bottom teeth.  He grinds them together, a horrible sound.  (While camping I also discovered that Isaac grinds his teeth in his sleep, a trait they may or may not have gotten from their mother.)  And Stephen has got to be the worst teether ever, not much sleep happening.  He is making more sounds and can do pat a cake when told to.  He is trying more table food.  He loves playing with his siblings and laughing at their antics. 

For the last gasp of summer we went camping in Ohio over Labor Day weekend which I will share pictures in my next post. 

6 Years Old

Isaac's neighborhood posse- Lydia, Veronica, Patrick

Better late than never, right?  Isaac turned 6 years old back on August 15.  He chose cheese pizza for his birthday supper and we had root beer as he discovered this summer that he LOVES root beer.  Especially root beer floats.  This is also the summer of Star Wars fascination so he asked for a Star Wars cake.  Isaac has grown so much this year.  He is tall and skinny, not the chunky toddler/preschooler anymore!  He has made good friends in the neighborhood.  Lydia and Patrick are always by his side.  Isaac and Caleb are still great playmates.  Although Isaac would like to play non-stop and can't understand why Caleb likes alone time!  Isaac likes to play with one or two kids, he is not a fan of group settings.  We made it to Florida this spring which pleased Isaac immensely.  He would ask almost daily when we were going to Florida.  Maybe he'll live there someday?  Isaac and Julia have moments of sibling love.  Isaac also enjoys playing with Stephen more these days.  He has the ability to get belly laughs from Stephen.  Isaac is excited to play soccer this fall and Nate is his coach.  Another milestone is Isaac started kindergarten this week!  He will attend all day, 5 days a week.  He is very ready and has adjusted well.  I was teary the night before school started.  It's hard to believe the little boy who loved to cuddle is growing up.  Isaac is a laid-back, sensitive, funny, curious and loving little boy.  Thank you God for the gift of Isaac!

July

Julia and a Heritage Camp teacher

Julia's preschool global camp

Just to prove that I can still do it

Classic picture taken by Steph

Family picture

The pen is for Stephen, but they all go in with him

Cutie. And nice looking Grandpa too

Here we go!

The end is in sight

Finished the race and got our cookies

Our cheering section

His Little Feet choir performing at church

Choir group that stayed at our house

Keeping up with the blog is proving difficult!  I need to start a page where I jot down things I want to remember so I'm not wracking my brain when it is time to blog.  I included a few more pics of Heritage Camp.  And my Mom took a picture of me waterskiing at the cottage last month.  I didn't ski last summer because I was pregnant so it was a good feeling to get up right away and find my groove again.  Wish we could ski more often! 

Stephanie came home for a visit, but the time always goes too fast.  I was a little sad that I couldn't spend much quality time with her because of some last minute busyness.  But, she was a huge help with the kids- as always!  I love the honest discussions we have and the silliness.  Love you Steph!

At the end of the month Nate, Steph and I ran a 5K.  The race raised money for adoption grants for special needs orphans.  I hate running and after the 5K I ran a couple years ago I swore I would never do it again.  However, I hadn't been getting to the gym much since Stephen was born and I needed some form of exercise.  Running was easy enough to do when Nate was home and the race was benefitting something I'm passionate about- seemed like a good idea.  It did NOT seem like a good idea while I was running the race.  It was brutal.  Steph kept me going though and I ran the whole thing.  And the race gave out cookies at the end, sweet!  Nate had a good race time and Steph would have had a better time if she hadn't stuck with me- what a nice sister.  And once again I say never again to a 5K...

The end of July also brought the choir His Little Feet to Holland.  I'd been working for a while to bring the choir to our church and it finally happened!  The choir is made up of orphans from Ethiopia and India.  The choir advocates and raises awareness for orphans around the world.  They performed at Faith CRC in the morning and then went to our old church in South Haven that evening.  Five families from our church, including us, hosted the kids and staff.  We had two boys and a staff member stay with us.  The day the choir left our homes they found out their next venue cancelled on them and they were without homes for 3 nights.  (The choir is based out of Colorado.)  We did a little scrambling and were able to find host homes.  We ended up hosting two groups.  So we had two boys and a staff member in the house and two boys and a staff member in our camper outside.  It was a great couple of days.  I had mentioned to Nate when the choir left the first time that we didn't have much time to connect with them.  But, God brought them back for an extended stay!  It was challenging to cook for 12 people, I felt like Grandma at the cottage. Our whole family enjoyed the time with the choir and are thankful for the relationships formed. 

Stephen is now crawling, here comes trouble!  He can now eat Cheerios too, I love that milestone.  It is much easier to keep babies happy in restaurants, etc when they can eat Cheerios.  Stephen had allergy testing done and he does not have any food allergies!  We are so thankful.  The Dr. said he probably has a milk intolerance.  So as he gets older we'll keep track of how his digestive system handles dairy products.  If he has discomfort we'll do lactose free products.

Now we are in the last weeks of summer vacation, hard to believe!